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Seismologists are tracking a swarm of earthquakes SE of Lakeview in Great Basin desert

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Seismologists with the University of Nevada, Reno are tracking a swarm of earthquakes that are occurring about 40 miles southeast of Lakeview in remote Washoe County Nevada. Lakeview is shown on this map in the upper left.
(Ken Smith, Nevada Seismological Lab)

"Yesterday was the largest, but this swarm started back in July,'' Smith said Tuesday. "It's pretty unusual — I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."

The quakes are occurring in an area of north Washoe County in Nevada that's not only remote, but contains a sparse network of automated monitors that adds to the difficulty of tracking seismic activity, Smith said.

As a result, Smith said, seismologists must manually check computer data, which takes more time.

"We are locating as many as we can locate," Smith said, "and trying to get ahead of them."

So far, Smith said, seismologists have located 303 events in the swarm since July 12. Monday's 3.7 quake, he said, was difficult to pinpoint because it was part of multiple earthquakes.

The area is so unpopulated that only three people from Oregon and Nevada signed in to the U.S. Geological Survey's "Did you feel it?" website to report that they did in fact feel the shaking of Monday night's quake.

Smith said the Great Basin area where the swarm is occurring is crisscrossed by fault lines.

According to the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Nevada is "one of the most seismically active regions in the United States. Along with California and Alaska, Nevada ranks in the top three states subject to the most large earthquakes over the last 150 years."